Admission procedures and entry tests vary widely across states and universities/institutes. Usually, admission to a university in a state is based upon the performance of the candidates in the statewide Higher Secondary examinations. These are usually given after completion of the twelfth standard/grade, for example the HSC examinations of Maharashtra. Some states also have special entrance examinations for entry into engineering and medical programs, for example the Common Entrance Test in Karnataka, or the Common Entrance Test in Delhi. Admission into federally established institutes like the Central Universities, the IITs, and the NITs is usually based on a combination of performance in nationwide exams such as the JEE–MAINS and the state–level Higher Secondary examinations. Admission into federally established institutes like the NISER and the CBS is based on performance in the nationwide exam – the NEST. Admission to the National Law Universities is based on a national level entry examination conducted annually by the CLAT.

National Aptitude Test (NAT) – Common entrance Test for admission in Higher Education Institutions across India.

UPSC – This is India's central agency that holds all the important examinations to recruit top notch government officials in the country. It conducts the Civil Services Exam, Combined Defence Services Exam, Indian Statistical Service Examination and lots more.

Joint Admission Test for M.Sc. - Joint Admission Test for M.Sc. is a national level entrance exam. Graduates can complete their M.Sc. or Master's from India's reputed institutes like IITs and IISc through JAM

JEST – Joint screening test for graduates or post graduates who wish to pursue their masters studies or research in field of science.

INAT – Screening test for the candidates who wish to pursue Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics. Conducted by Inter University campus of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and National Center of Radio Astronomy (NCRA) jointly

TNPCEE – Test for undergraduate admissions in the select universities in the state of Tamil Nadu.This test has been removed from admission requirements from the academic year 2007–08 following approval from the then president Dr. APJ Abdulkalam

Single Entrance Examination for Medical Entrance

The Medical Council of India has determined that there will be only one common entrance test each for over 30,000 MBBS seats and over 11,000 MD seats in all government and medical colleges in the country. Earlier (until this year[which?]), students wanting to take up courses in medicine had to appear in at least five to six MBBS and MD entrance tests for various colleges and worry about problems like clash of exam dates as well as travel to distant places for counselling for allotment of seats. A new notification has come that from 2017 there will be a single entrance exam for medical colleges in India NEET.

SBMPTN – A competitive exam. Test for undergraduate admissions in Public Universities in Indonesia. Students may choose one out of 3 exams: Science (Basic Test, Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology), Social (Basic Test, Economy, Sociology, Geography, and History), or Mixed (Both of Them). Each major in each university falls into Science or Social category.

Conducted Jointly by Some Universities

UMB – Ujian Masuk Bersama – Test for undergraduate admissions in some state and private colleges

SBM–PTAIN – Test for entering Public Islamic Universities in Indonesia.

Each University in Mexico has its own admission procedures, . Some of them might use the EXANI–I from Centro Nacional de Evaluación para la Educación Superior "CENEVAL" (National Center for Higher Education Assessment). Many also utilize the Prueba de Aptitud Académica offered by the College Board Puerto Rico y America Latina. However, due to the autonomous nature of most universities in Mexico, many universities utilize admissions tests that they develop themselves.

"Examen General de Conocimientos y Habilidades para la Acreditación de la Licenciatura en Enseñanza del Inglés" (General Knowledge and Skills Test for the Accreditation of the English Teaching bachelor's degree), also known as EGAL–EIN.

Universities and other institutions of higher education formerly ran their own entrance exams. Since the introduction of the "new matura" in 2005, and in particular the marking of that exam by independent examiners rather than by teachers at students' own schools, the matura now serves as the admission test for Polish students. See Polish matura.

Unified State Exam (Russian: Единый государственный экзамен, ЕГЭ, tr.Yediniy gosudarstvenniy ekzamen, EGE) – every student must pass after graduation from school to enter a university or a professional college. Since 2009, EGE is the only form of graduation examinations in schools and the main form of preliminary examinations in universities.

Unified Republic Exam [1][2] (Russian: Единый республиканский экзамен, ЕРЭ, tr.Yediniy respublikanskiy ekzamen, ERE; Tatar: Бердәм Республика Имтиханы, БРИ, Berdäm Respublika Imtixanı, BRI) – students which graduate in the Republic of Tatarstan can choose to pass the ERE/BRI in the Tatar language. The test is not obligatory and accepted as an entry exam only by the Tatarstan universities, especially for the Tatar language faculties.

In Sri Lanka, A Level is offered by governmental and nongovernmental schools. The qualifications are awarded upon successful completion of examinations called Local A Levels while most of the private schools award them upon London A Levels. Local GCE Advanced Level qualification is offered by the Department of Examinations. Passing A Levels is the major requirement for applying local universities.

General Scholastic Ability Test – Standard means of entry to Taiwanese universities and colleges held in January. It consists of five subjects, namely Chinese, English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science. All examinees should take the whole set of test.

Department Required Test – Standard means of entry to Taiwanese universities and colleges held in July. It consists of ten subjects, namely Chinese, English, Mathematics(A and B), History, Geography, Citizen and Society, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Examinees can take the tests that are required to meet to university's standard.

Postgraduate Admission Test - Each university in Bangladesh applies different methodology to admit prospective Masters students.But usually they have to appear in the Masters/Postgraduate Admission Test (different subject have different names). Some universities do not require any admission test.

Business Admissions Test - Used by ISB for admissions to their Postgraduate Programme in Management for Family Businesses.

CSIR-UGC NET – All India test for entrance into Science PhD programs and for eligibility to teach at undergraduate level across India. Having qualification as a lectureship from CSIR–UGC NET is compulsory for teaching across Indian Colleges and Universities at undergraduate and Post–Graduate level.

CBSE-UGC NET – Entrance examination for PhD in Humanities and Languages across India.

Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT)– For entry to the master programs in the pharmacy

National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) For entry to seven institutes of Indian government

JEST – JEST EXAM which have two phases of examination first phase is objective and second phase is subjective, by getting rank in this test we can admitted into affiliated universities and institutes across India, for Physics and Computer Science PhD programs.